“God won’t give you more than you can handle.” Really?

I’ve photographed Rodin’s “Burghers of Calais”  in Paris and various times in London next to the Westminster Palace:  is this not a picture of despair  - of beyond-self?

Dear reader, if you feel remotely like this picture, please be directed to the first steps to a solution that works: Hide in Jesus, rely on God’s help – no overwhelming trial is deeper than His love and His help.

Shall we weigh up:

• A common phrase thrown around a lot, is:  “God won’t give you more than you can handle.”

vs

• encouragement that works - encouragement true to the Word and life, faces reality & relying on God, taking shelter in Him.

I used to use this phrase myself, but from today - no longer!                               
 I want to go after encouragement with the truth – truth that works.

“God won’t give you more than you can handle” sounds oh-so affirming and so positive, but, to be honest, it is not true to the Bible nor to life-experience.

Let’s  take 1 Corinthians 10:13 – as is, at face-value:

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

(It reminds me of an comedy-excerpt from the Proms 2011 in London - so funny!  The musician played in F major and sang in F-sharp.  Not funny when we do that with Scripture. 1 Corinthians 10:13 and “God won’t give you more than you can handle” are sung in different notes.)

To clarify:  God does not tempt anyone. James 1:13 emphatically states, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.”
While God does not tempt us, He does, in his compassionate sovereignty, permit us to go through trials.
So then, what DOES 1 Corinthians 10:13 actually mean?

When Paul writes that God will not tempt us beyond our ability, he means

1. that we are never in a situation where have no other choice but to sin.
2. We always have the option of doing the right thing.
3. Honouring to God will often cost us (reputation, position, relationship, or money,  etc.)
4. God will not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability to do what is right.

  

“God won’t give you more than you can handle.”

or...................

God will almost always give us more than we can handle on our own. 

For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead (2 Cor 1:8,9)  (Paul)

We see this over and over in life and in the Bible:

1. Take Jeremiah:  he was charged with preaching repentance to the people of Israel, a calling that caused him to be beaten, plotted against and rejected by everyone, even his own family.   Emotionally, that was far more than he could handle as seen in his many laments.
2. The ministry of the Apostle Paul is probably one of the most powerful examples of "being pushed over the edge". 2 Cor. 11:21-30

Take a deep breath and take in the panorama of Paul’s sufferings:

“…. imprisonments, countless beatings,  often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three timess beaten with rods. Once, stoned. Three times shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; frequent journeys, in danger from rivers,  robbers, my own people,  Gentiles, danger in the city, in the wilderness, at sea,  from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger & thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. .. the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches……  If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.”

What do we observe about Paul and his sufferings?

1. Overwhelming hardships and trials - humanly speaking too much to bear, too much to take.
2. We don’t read about a Paul bragging and going on about how he took his hardships like a man. 
3. We see a man boasting of  things that show his weakness, his reliance on the power of God.  
4. We clearly see a man who was given by God more – far more – than he could handle or bear on his own - pushed beyond coping.

Utterly burdened beyond his strength – he thought he was going to die!

For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead (2 Cor 1:8,9)

• Paul was given more than he could handle – so that – he would rely on His God who could handle the situations, work out His purposes and carry him through.
• There’s no place for self-sufficiency and brave triumphs.
• There’s no measured suffering that can be handled. 
• Here is suffering beyond coping, but here is a God who is a very present help in the day of trouble.

“God won’t give you more than you can handle.” is just not true...............  He does, at times give us more than we can cope with.

Bottom line:   Here is encouragement that is true to the Word, to life and works:

• We cannot just hunker down and power through every situation. And we cannot white-knuckle our way through life.  
• We need our God and need to rely on Him.  

I have a shelter in the storm
When troubles pour upon me
Though fears are rising like a flood
My soul can rest securely
O Jesus, I will hide in You
My place of peace and solace
No trial is deeper than Your love
That comforts all my sorrows.

You can now download for free a song from Sovereign Grace’s new album, Come Weary Saints. Here are the lyrics from the song by Steve and Vicki Cook, and Bob Kauflin

Hide in Christ Jesus – no trial is deeper than God’s love and God’s help.

Is the UK 2011 autumn early?

Please hang fire for expert words of wisdom later on in the blog checking out  this question:

“Spring 2011 was possibly the earliest on record, so does this mean that autumn will be early too?"

In the mean-time, here are first-hand, local recorded signs of Autumn as on 23 September 2011 in St Albans – please see the red box on the UK map.


 Click images for an enhanced view of autumn's partial look in Verulamium Park, St Albans on Friday 23 September 2011.

(The park is named after the Roman City of Verulamium on which it stands.    Perching on the hill, is the St Albans Cathedral.)


On the bus from Hatfield to St Albans, I made a point of having a sharp look at the trees for signs of autumn.  Some are ablaze, others have not even started to make any autumnal show.

Here is a sample of my  HUNTED and FOUND autumn colours, in the Park, helped along brilliantly by the low sun.

And for a quick comparison,  a few pictures taken in Harpenden, a few miles from St Albans, 2 days ago, Thursday 22 September 2011


In the Verulamium Park, close to the outdoor excercise area, there stands a middle-sized Chestnut Tree that reminded me of the tree from which God spoke to Moses. Though it looked as if it was on fire, it was of course nothing like that wondrous fiery bush and encounter Moses experienced with "I am who I am."  

By the way, the intimate closeness of Jesus in us and us in Him as the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father - is this not in a way our own personal fiery bush?.    Self-note:  appreciate the all-important and awesome reality that Christians are in Christ and draw near in Jesus' Name.  Realise you are on holy ground, take on board what He says (as in obeying), enjoy Him, listen/pray/sing/ shhh be quiet/ask questions/wait in His presence much, much more often!

Again, for enhanced view, click image.

Question:
I wonder if someone could tell me why some Chestnuts produce red autumnal leaves and others yellow?  Are they different varieties?


And now for those expert observations and forecasts and links:
http://visitwoods.org.uk/en/visit-woods/for-nature/Pages/early-autumn-2011.aspx

Spring 2011 was possibly the earliest on record, so does this mean that autumn will be early too? Some scientists and phenology experts believe that autumn will be early because leaves have a shelf-life, so the earlier they appear on the trees, the earlier they will be shed in autumn. Others believe that trees remain growing and retain their leaves for as long as temperatures are high and water is available.
Records submitted by the public over the past decade suggest that trees across the UK will start to showing the first signs of autumn colour during late September, getting their full autumn colour by late October.
However, some trees are starting to show autumnal colouring early because the dry spring meant they have not had enough water, despite the high rainfall in June and July.

I have just been to South Africa and felt rather disorientated seeing trees in full spring blossom.  But now it is autumn-time in the Northern Hemisphere….enjoy!

Daniel 2:21
He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.

Acts 14:17
Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”

2 Timothy 4:2
Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.

An overview of our life-story between student days & today

 
Recently we swopped life-stories with friends with whom, by circumstance, we’ve had no contact for 40 years.

One the real joys and fun of face-book is getting in touch with old friends. Having crossed the 6th decade birthdays, our friends come from each of the last 5 decades – years and experiences that are part of our history. If you are still at the spring chicken stage, you may very well think we are history!

For most of us, meeting again on Facebook, the questions are something along these lines: “What are you up to these days?” And if appropriate, “How many children do you have?” – and so on.

I’m more than often stumped by this last question, not because my long- or short-term memory is completely shot, but because I don’t want to necessarily make it a shaggy-dog story. I can hardly say: at first we had 3 children, then we had 5 children and then we had 4 children, and all the while ONE marriage - without a few explanations.

So when a dear student-friend who appeared on face-book out of the mists of the far distant past, shared their lives and asked after ours, I thought: “let me, once and for all, try to set it out in ‘at-a-glance’-format.”
So here goes, Michelle and those who might be interested.

Our post-marriage-story in bullet-form
Geographical/jobs

• June 1973 Gordon and I got married near Johannesburg on a winter’s day end of June and went back to Bible College, Kalk Bay near Cape Town, to finish our last 6 months.

• January 1974 –April 1977 – Johannesburg (Gordon starts B.Th. and is back in his pre-college job in accountancy.)

• April 1977 – to April 1985 (Presbyterian ministry: 3 years Monte Vista Cape Town and 5 years Tarkastad Eastern Cape). Gordon completes B.Th. (through University of South Africa)

• April 1985 – October 1999 – Port Elizabeth. Gordon completes B.Comt through UNISA (University of South Africa) and works in accountancy.

• October 1999 – the present. We emigrate to the United Kingdom – ancestral visa – Gordon’s grandparents were born in Edinburgh. Gordon works in IT Auditing up to the present.

Our children:

• Isabelle born 10 November 1974 – Johannesburg.

• Liesl Rene born 16 July 1976 – Johannesburg.

• Michael Ian born 17 November 1978 – Cape Town.

(Gordon’s sister, Joy, sadly had a stroke at age 36 and 8 years later Dan, passed away, after kidney problems.) At that stage their daughters, Stephanie and Naomi came from Cape Town and we became one family in Port Elizabeth, at the end of 1989:

• Stephanie 15 years and 8 months

• Isabelle 15 years and 1 month

• Liesl 13 years and 4 months

• Naomi 12 years and 6 months

• Michael 11 years and 2 months

The sum: 5 children 4 and half years apart.

• Liesl married Jason Sanders, July 1999 (they have two sons) – New Zealand

• Isabelle married Michael Schmidt January 2000 (they have two daughters) - Germany

• Stephanie is married to Charles (one daughter), Eastern Cape, South Africa and Naomi is unmarried, & when not working all over the world on ocean cruisers, based in Cape Town.

Our Michael was diagnosed with inoperable Ewing's Sarcoma of the spine in October 2004 – in South Africa. He went through 14 sessions of chemo therapy (5 hospitalised days every 3rd week) and 35 rounds of Radio Therapy. At the end of October 2005 the Port Elizabeth oncologists concluded there was nothing more they could do for our son.

Michael came to Royal Marsden Hospital in London for 3 appointments, resulting in the same prognosis. Gordon and I, Michael and Isabelle and Jason and Liesl (with hospice guidance) nursed Michael in his flat in Port Elizabeth until he – to use bible-language – fell asleep in Jesus – on 23 January 2006, 2 months after his 27th birthday.

It might sound a bit strange – but it's true: Michael first passed from death to life – then from life to death, to start real forever life. And all because of God’s amazing amazing grace. This grace was made known when He gave His only Son Jesus. And so it came to be on old year’s eve 2005, Michael called Gordon and I into his room, he prayed and repented of all that stood between him and peace with God and rested by his own faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection. That night our son passed from death to life was made alive with Christ – he was forgiven and such a visible peace came over him.

For now we can just sum up and say we love/d Michael very much and long for him – like crazy. At the same time we feel and are safe and secure in the plans of our Father, our Rock Whose compassionate nearness and sustaining power are all ours at every stage of this journey.

Our Lord’s ultimate plans outshine the highest ideals any parent can have for a dearly, dearly loved child and we are proving daily that to rest in His faithfulness and love is enough.
In His grace, He gives us space to hurt, to ask questions even to reason with Him – but who can “win the debate” against His wisdom, His love and the most brilliant future Jesus has won for every single forgiven one?

To keep the account trimmed, I’ve tried to type the hard facts without elaborate personal responses. Very little has been said about our girls and their hubbies – but that is no measure of our love for them and our grand-kiddo’s – they know that!

Zephaniah 3:17 is true of everyone in Christ:
“The LORD your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.”

We wonder what the Lord’s singing sounds like in heaven? Such grace, such a future, such a salvation, such a Saviour, such pure exuberant and lasting joy!

Looking back over our days and decades, our marriage, our children, our children’s children – “Who like us His praise should sing!”

Heaven – a brilliant unlimited durable future

Right now I’m plagued by a debilitating headache, therefore I will use minimum words and hope the bullet-thoughts will bless.
John Martin's painting before restoration. Photograph: Tate Photography

Here’s something about the painting’s journey:
After getting soaked in the Tate's worst ever flood, the work had been considered a write-off. Not only was it flaking and dirty, it was in two parts, with a large part of the canvas, showing the volcano, missing completely.
But there was some good news when tissue was pulled away from the painting in 2010, recalled Tate's head of conservation, Patricia Smithen. "Amazingly, the surface was really intact and the figures in the foreground particularly were in really great condition. Shockingly so. It was at that point we started asking if we could undertake a restoration."

What an outstanding result! (Click on image for enhanced viewing)

Here is another of John Martin’s paintings:  I think it is displayed in Tate Britain.  At first view, I was overcome by the force of the theme and the art. On later visits, I looked for it as for an old friend.  Last time it was not to be found, because it was on a temporary exhibition in another gallery.
Click on the image for enhanced viewing and pretend you are in the gallery, looking up and the rocks are falling on you.

• Jesus Himself talks about an apocalyptic judgment awaiting mankind in the end.

If you think these works of art on the  apocalyptic theme is outrageously far-fetched, then have a peek at a NASA image.  Once again click on the image for a greater impact.

My joy, despite the headache, was reading about imagination, reason, Biblical revelation focusing on heaven.

"No eye has seen no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him - but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit" (1 Cor. 2:9,10

• At our most creative moment, at our deepest thought, at our highest level, we still cannot fathom eternity.
• Who says reality only exists within the limits of the discovered and measured? 
• And He holds out  for His children a heaven beyond our imagination.
• What motivation not to rate earth too highly, not to lose heart.
• The certain prospect of heaven for each and every person in Christ,  propels us on to  love our God with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength and people like Jesus loved us:  love in action!

What it took God to communicate with us

This is one of our favourite masterpieces in the National Gallery off Trafalgar Square in London.  What a privilege to visit and gaze and gape – for free!



Gerrit van Honthorst.  "Christ before the High Priest."
(1617) National Gallery, London

Do double-click on the picture for an enhanced view.

Gerrit van Honthorst captures beautifully what it took for God to communicate with us.

See the contrast between the assumed authority of the High Priest and Jesus’ real authority.

What it took God to communicate with us?  One of the answers is:  meekness.

Meekness’ original meaning was something like ‘strength, harnessed’.

God’s power was all there, but He (graciously) chose not to expose us to its full force.

Jesus could have blasted the priest from here to kingdom come, but He knew why he was there: to display his love for everyone, including the man confronting him.

"Oh what a mystery, meekness and majesty
Bow down and worship for this is your God.
Meekness and majesty; manhood and deity
in perfect harmony
The man who is God, Lord of eternity, dwells in humanity
and washes our feet.
Father's pure radiance,
perfect in innocence, .......
conquering through sacrifice, and as they crucify prays Father forgive.
Wisdom unsearchable, God the invisible,
Love indestructible in frailty appears,
Lord of infinity, stooping so tenderly
lifts our humanity tot he heights of His throne

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